


Negan’s Wife

by MidnightNinja27



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Aged-Up Carl Grimes, Aged-Up Character(s), Aged-Up Judith Grimes, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Carl Grimes, Canon-Typical Violence, Dark Carl Grimes, F/M, Judith is 3, M/M, Negan Being Negan (Walking Dead), One-Eyed Carl Grimes, Protective Negan (Walking Dead), Savior Beth Greene, Savior Carl Grimes, Savior Daryl Dixon, Sweet Negan (Walking Dead), carl is 18
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-16 05:07:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 11
Words: 11,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28825689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidnightNinja27/pseuds/MidnightNinja27
Summary: Behind every powerful man, is a strong wife.Carl and Judith were separated from the rest of the group when they lost the prison but both of Rick's children managed to survive without finding Terminus nor Alexandria. Now, Rick and the gang need to get Maggie to the doctor at the Hilltop but when they are intercepted by the Saviors, they find a familiar face they thought was dead.
Relationships: Carl Grimes/Negan, Daryl Dixon/Beth Greene, Lori Grimes/Rick Grimes, Maggie Greene/Glenn Rhee, Rick Grimes/Michonne
Comments: 3
Kudos: 42





	1. Negan

Narrator's POV

"Come on, you have people to meet." Dwight said, knocking on the RV door

Within moments, the door began to open a a loud, masculine voice said, "Pissing our pants yet? Boy, do I have a feeling that we're getting close." The man wearing a black leather jacket and a crimson scarf said, walking out if the RV and looking at the people kneeling in front of him, "Yep. It's gonna be pee-pee pants city in here real soon."

Negan then looked to one of his men, "Which one of these pricks is the leader?"

The Savior pointed at Rick, "It's this one, sir."

"You're Rick, right? I'm Negan." Negan introduced himself, "And I do not appreciate you killing my men. Also, when I sent my people to kill your people for killing my people, you killed more of my people. Not cool. Not fucking cool. You have no fucking idea how not fucking cool that shit is. But I think you're gonna be up to speed shortly. Yeah, you are so gonna regret crossing me in a few minutes. Fuck yes, you are. You see, Rick, whatever you do, no matter fucking what, you don't mess with the new world order. And the new world order is this, and it's really very simple. So, even if you're fucking stupid, which you very may well be, you can understand it. You ready? Here goes. Pay attention. Give me your shit or I will kill you. Today was career day. We invested a lot so you would know who I am and what I can do. You work for me now. You have shit, you give it to me. That's your job. Now, I know that is a mighty big, nasty pill to swallow, but swallow it you most certainly motherfucking will. You ruled the roost. You built something. You thought you were safe, I get it, but the word is out. You are not safe. Not even fucking close. In fact, you are fucked, more fucked if you don't do what I want. And what I want is half your shit. And if that's too much, you can make, find, or steal more, and it'll even out sooner or later. This is your way of life now. The more you fight back, the harder it will be. So, if someone knocks on your door, you fucking let us in. We own that fucking door. You try to fucking stop us and we will fucking knock that fucker down down. You understand?"

None of the Alexandrians —which included Rick, Maggie, Glenn, Abraham, Eugene, Sasha, Michonne, Aaron, and Rosita— spoke, anger clearly displayed on their features while Maggie was looking worse by the moment.

"What, no answer? You don't really think that you were gonna get through this without being punished, now, did you? I don't want to kill you people. Just want to make that clear from the get-go. I want you to work for me. You can't do that if you're fucking dead, now, can you? I'm not growing a garden. But you killed my people, a whole fucking damn shitload of them. More than I'm comfortable with. And for that, for that you're gonna fucking pay. So, now, I'm gonna beat the holy hell outta one of you. This- this is Lucille, and she is awesome. All this, all this is just so we can pick out which one of you gets the honor." Negan chuckled, looking at a baseball bat covered in barbed wire

Suddenly, the RV door opened again, and the group kneeling in front of Negan looked up in surprise: it was Carl, who they hadn't seen in the two years since they lost the prison.

Carl looked at the group, quickly spotting Rick, "Dad?"

"Coral?" Rick asked, trying to get up and get to his son but Saviors held him back

"All right, listen. I will shut that shit down, no exceptions. First one's free. It's an emotional moment, I get it. Sucks, don't it? The moment you realize you don't know shit. Don't make it easy on me." Negan threatened, then turning back to face Carl, "Sorry, babe, I gotta pick somebody, rules are rules." 

Carl didn't reply, he just hung his head somewhat sorrowfully.

"Everybody's at the table waiting for me to order." Negan muttered, whistling, "I simply cannot decide, like I said, I don't want to kill any of you. But, I got an idea." He the pointed Lucille at Rick and began to move slowly pointing at each group member, "Eenie... meenie... miney... mo... catch... a tiger... by... his toe. If... he hollers... let him go. My mother... told me... to pick the very best one... and you... are... it." He stopped in front of a red-haired man Carl didn't know, but the others knew as Abraham, "Anybody moves, anybody says anything, cut their eye out and feed it to them and then we'll start. You can breathe, you can blink, you can cry. Hell, you're all gonna be doing that."

Negan raised Lucille up, like a player taking a swing, and hit Abraham in the face, "Ho! Look at that. Taking it like a champ!" He didn't stop, "Damn!" And soon enough Abraham's face was nothing more than a bloody mess

And with the punishment dealt, the Saviors began to load back into their respective vehicles until only Rick, his people, Negan and Carl were left out.

"Babe, I imagine you want to talk with your old man right now and explain what the hell is going on?" Negan asked Carl

"Yeah." Carl agreed

"I'll pick you up at their place in a week when we collect the first round, give 'em a heads up 'bout that, too." Negan said, pulling a walkie-talkie out of his pocket and handing it to Carl, "See ya soon, I call you tonight."

"Bye, Negan." Carl said as the Saviors drove off

After the Alexandrians loaded Abraham's dead body into the RV and they began to drive away, the former deputy looked to his son and noticed a black diamond ring on a string around Carl's neck.

His mind began to piece things together: the ring, its match around Negan's neck, how Negan called Carl 'babe'.

Carl had married Negan.

"How did you survive?" Michonne asked Carl

"And is Judith alive?" Rick asked, sitting on the RV's couch next to his son as Glenn drove to the Hilltop to get Maggie to their doctor, still disturbed at the realization that Carl married a man and one old enough to be his father, "And how did you and Negan become a thang?"

Most of the eyes around the vehicle widened at the last question.

"I barely did, Michoone. Yes, she is. And I don't really know, it just did." Carl replied, widened eyes expanding more when Carl confirmed it, "But one thing led to another and it just did. But I should start from the beginning..."


	2. Savior

Narrator's POV ~ Two Years Earlier

Carl held Judith close to him as he made his way through the prison, careful to avoid walkers and the Governor's new group.

Making his way to where he knew the bus would be waiting to get them to safety but as Carl got to that area of the prison, the bus was already rolling away.

Not letting that failed plan slow him down, Carl ran out of the gates in the same direction the bus was going but remained unnoticed by all, living or dead.

When he couldn't run any longer, Carl speed-walked towards the forest.

Within a few minutes of entering the woods, the elder Grimes child heard the growl of a walker, cursing that he didn't have a gun, he pulled out his knife and stabbed it in the brain.

As the walker collapsed to the ground, Carl noticed that it was wearing a poncho.

Setting Judith on the ground, he took the poncho off of the walker and set it flat on the ground and got his knife and stabbed the dead walker in its stomach and pulled the knife towards the walker's hips.

Once he had made a hole, he began to pull the decomposing guts and blood out of it and spread it all over the outside of the poncho, on his face and hair and he put the poncho on and picked Judith up and hid her under the poncho.

Holding Judith with one arm, he picked his knife back up with his free hand and walked deeper into the forest, completely ignored by the living dead.

***

In a weeks time, the Grimes siblings were out of Georgia and past the Carolinas and now were in Virginia.

Making his way into a gas station store, Carl hit the window and waited for any walkers to appear from inside, when none did, he opened the door and went inside.

Walking inside, he saw some rotten hot dogs at the counter and looked for even the smallest amount of baby formula.

From the other side of the store, Carl heard two people, a man and a woman, talking.

Making his way silently over to them, Judith kicked the shelf, catching the two people's attention.

"Holy crap, it's a kid." A Middle Eastern woman said, nearly dropping a sack filled with cans

The people were silent, only the sound of a growling stomach broke the silence.

"When was the last time you ate, kid?" A man asked Carl

"We haven't eaten in a week, I think." Carl replied

"'We'?" The woman asked, causing Carl to lift the poncho to show Judith

"Holy shit, there's two kids." The man muttered, looking to the woman he was with, "Arat, we got to bring them back with us. There's no way they can survive much longer on their own."

Arat nodded in agreement, "We do, Drake."

Drake looked at the two Grimes, "I'm Drake and this is Arat, who are you?"

Carl looked at them curiously, but the idea of being safe in a camp was needed, "I'm Carl Grimes, this is my sister Judith."

"Do you wanna come back with us? We got this base with a lot of people, you'll be safe." Drake asked, his hand outstretched

"Yes." Carl replied, taking Drake's hand

Carl and Judith waited in Drake and Arat's car for them to finish their run, within twenty minutes for them to load their stuff up and get back in.

Drake got into the driver's seat and Arat in the passenger while they two Grimes were in the back.

While they drove back to a place Arat called 'The Sanctuary', Arat spoke to them, "Well, Carl, we're called the Saviors and when we get y'all back we'll introduce you to the guy who runs the place, Negan. He'll explain the rest when we get back."

***

Around two hours later, the car pulled into what looked like a military base and Arat got out to assist with unloading the finds while Drake took Carl and Judith to a tall man who was wearing gray jeans, a white t-shirt, a leather jacket, a crimson scarf, and was holding a baseball bat with barbed wire on it.

"Negan." Drake said to the man

"Yes?" Negan replied

"While Arat and I were on our run, we found these two." Drake answred, "They're siblings, Carl and Judith Grimes."

"Well, hello there." Negan greeted, petting Judith's blonde hair, "I'm Negan. And y'all be stayin' here, right? Drake can show you to one of our spare rooms, one of my wives can watch your sister while you clean up. I'll talk to you later, Carl, but I've got my hands full at the moment."

"Thank you, sir." Carl thanked, exhaustion slowly taking over as the adrenaline wore out

"Just call me Negan, 'sir' was my father." Negan joked, walking away into the crowd

Drake led Carl and Judith to a fancy room on the top floor holding ten woman, all wearing black dresses.

"Hello, ladies." Drake greeted, "Negan wants y'all to watch this little princess while her brother learns how we do things 'round here."

"Okay, I'll watch her, it's been forever since I seen one of these precious things." One of Negan's wives, who was a brunette with hazel eyes said, "I'm Rosie, by the way."

"I'm Carl." Carl said, "And my sister's name is Judith."

"How cute." Rosie cooed, taking Judith from Carl, "I'll watch her for you whenever, no points charged."

"Points?" Carl asked, confused

"I'll explain more when we get to your room." Drake replied, leading Carl down the stairs and little ways down the hall

The room was plain and small with a small bed, mini fridge, small desk with a chair, small counter and a stove-oven with a sink, a small sofa, and a red door Carl assumed led to a small bathroom.

"This is your room, remember how we got here, you're bathroom is behind that door on the wall." Drake said, "Anyways, here in the Sanctuary, everything is worth points. A meal in the cafeteria is worth twenty points every day, including breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Pricing in the shop depends on what item, there's a 'checkout' where the lady will count. Random chores around the place are worth points, going on runs are worth thirty points plus whatever you find, a biter kill with proof is worth ten points, any random thing Negan has you do is worth points, stuff like that. You kept you and your infant sister alive for a week in the wild, so I think you'll catch on quickly and your meal now and tonight is free —courtesy of Negan."

Drake turned to leave, "Oh, Arena is every Sunday in the plaza, winner gets a thousand points."

Before Carl could ask what arena was, Drake was gone...


	3. Noticed

Narrator's POV

Three days later, on Saturday, Carl climbed into a black truck's passenger seat as Negan took the driver's seat while another eight Saviors rode motorcycles behind them with two random Saviors driving a military truck in the back of the group to haul whatever they found.

Lucille rested on the dashboard as Negan started the engine and began to drive out of the Sanctuary and about an hour later they group entered a subdivision that look like it belonged to the wealthier part of what used to be this town.

Strangely enough, there wasn't a walker in sight and the twelve males exited their respective vehicles and split into groups of two and made their way into six different houses.

Negan banged Lucille against the front door of the house that they were going into to and waited a minutes for any walkers, but after not hearing any he kicked the door open and he and Carl went inside.

The pair made their way into the home's kitchen, Negan opened the fridge but found nothing but a bunch of rotten-beyond-belief bananas while Carl made his way to a walk-in pantry.

"Jesus tap-dancin' Christ those are some ugly lil' fucks." Negan muttered, slamming the fridge door closed

Opening the pantry door, Carl's mouth dropped when he saw the holy-grail of cans, hell there was even a small stack of king-sized Hershey bars.

"Negan." Carl muttered, disbelief clear in his voice

"Yeah, kid?" Negan asked, opening a cabinet door to find only a large spiderweb

"Look here." Carl replied

Turing around, Negan saw the collection of cans Carl had found, "Hot diggity dog, that is the lottery jackpot right here, Carl."

The pair quickly put the large quantity of cans into their bags and made their way upstairs and into bedrooms to look for any other goodies.

Carl's first bedroom he found was a nursery, the sixteen year old boy quickly pocketed a green binkey as well as a green rattle and all three of the green diapers that were left.

He considered asking Negan to assist him in carrying out the wooden crib and weighed the pros and cons: pro, Judith would get a crib to sleep in instead of three pillows; con, he would owe Negan even more.

Carl sighed, and called Negan in for assistance carrying the crib once their were finished and looked in another room.

Unfortunately, the other bedrooms only held were a few pieces of clothing, some tampons, a bottle of rum, and a red-scarf (which Negan pocketed).

Once they had given the entire house a good look-through, Negan and Carl put their stuff inside of the crib and got out of the house and back to the vehicles.

Within a few minutes, all twelve of the Saviors were loading their gatherings which included: cans of food, flat sodas and beers, a couple bottles of assorted alcohol, a couple packs of pills, and a suitcase full of men and women's clothing into the truck.

While people were beginning to get back into their vehicles, a herd of walkers walked through the road towards them.

"Shit." A Savior muttered, jumping into the truck with the supplies and slamming the metal door down

Negan pulled himself and Carl under the truck and the other seven Saviors hid under the truck as well or inside of it which reminded Carl of when they had hid under the cars when the herd passed when Dale's RV broke down and Sophia went missing right before he got shot by Otis.

Unfortunately, one Savior was grabbed by a walker and they herd began to feast on him.

The dying man was screaming in agony for around five minutes when it stopped, signaling that he was dead.

Slowly, the herd continued to walk by and within a half hour, the majority of the herd had gotten past them and only about fifty stragglers remained.

But the group of now eleven still didn't move since fiftyish walkers still outnumbered eleven men.

Suddenly, one walker tripped over a piece of broken concrete and fell to the ground with a thud.

Right in front of Negan.

Negan quickly began to hit the undead woman with Lucille, but since he was stuck against the ground and hitting from an odd angle, the walker wasn't hit on its brain.

Carl wiggled around to face the walker without revealing himself, pulled out the silenced gun he had been given (for points he had already repaid in twenty proved walker kills by getting a string of their noses), and shot the walker before it brought attention to the living hiding under the truck.

About five minutes later, the walkers were completely gone and the Saviors climbed out of their hiding places and got inside of their correct vehicles and drove back to the Sanctuary.

Once they were back, the Saviors began to unload the truck, but Negan pulled Carl aside.

"Follow me Carl." Negan said, pointing to two random Saviors, "You two, take the crib to Carl's room."

"Yes, sir." The Saviors replied, doing as told 

"I want to get to know you, Carl?" Negan said, sitting on the couch while Carl sat on the chair in front of it

"Why?" Carl asked, taking off his hat and placing on his lap

"Work it out." Negan chuckled, "You're smart. In fact I'm gonna tell you how smart you are in case you don't already know. See, I'd expect a kid your age to be moping around, not doing a damn thing except crying about missing the prom. But you were on a mission: to keep your sister safe and whatever cost. And you're smart enough to know how the system here runs and how to live by its rules in record time. And it just makes people forget about how young you are."

Carl gave a tiny smile at the compliment as he took a drink of the water bottle he had brought.

"What do you do for fun, kid?" Negan asked, "Do you like music? Reading? Sports? Personally, I like ping-pong best and listenin' to people sing. Do you sing, Carl?"

"I used to, before the world ended, in school we had to choose between electives and I chose choir because I couldn't draw that well or play an instrument." Carl replied, "I broke my grandma's piano just by lookin' at it before she died when I was little."

Negan laughed, "Yeah, choir seems like the best choice for you, kid. Sing me a song."

"I don't remember any." Carl replied, shaking his head

"It doesn't have to be something great, even a nursery rhyme would do. Lucille loves to be sung to, it's probably the only thing she loves more than bashin' in brains." Negan said, adding in the second sentence non-threateningly

It took a minute, but Carl began to softly sing, "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray. You'll never know dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away."

"That was pretty good. Did your mother sing that to you?" Negan asked, making Carl get a sad gleam in his eyes, "Oh, she'd dead, huh?"

"Yeah, she couldn't survive givin' birth to Judith." Carl replied...


	4. Arena and the Hilltop

Narrator's POV

On Sunday, Carl woke up at six AM, fed Judith her morning bottle, changed her diaper, delivered her to Rosie, did his morning killing of ten walkers —thus earning a hundred points for food and anything else he needed— (he currently has 335 points, if you deducted his daily three meals), showered, ate his breakfast —which was made up of a fried egg, three slices of bacon, and two pieces of toast.

Unusually, Carl noticed people rushing with their meal and hurrying out of the cafeteria.

Wanting to see what was going on, he hurried with his meal and went after the other Saviors.

Remembering Drake's words, Carl had a guess that this was the 'arena' he had heard about.

Eventually, he found easily all of the Saviors sitting on bleachers in the plaza, surrounding a large cage that Negan was sitting in front of, holding a small bowl.

Negan raised one hand into the air for silence, "So everybody, we all know how Arena works: five people go in, one comes out and wins a thousand points." he reached into the cup and pulled out a scrap of paper, "Lucia MacKenna, Asta Newman, Kermit Boatwright, Sonny Vincent, and Anderson Madison are our fighters today!"

Five people stood up from their seats on the bleachers and walked towards Negan and entered the cage.

The Leader of the Saviors walked up the bleachers to were Carl was sitting and sat next to him, then raised his hand, signalling the two women and three men to start fighting.

The five people began savagely fighting, clawing and mauling each other, and everyone was entranced by the display.

"Your first time watching Arena, right, Carl?" Negan asked, snapping Carl out of the trance

"Yeah, it's like nothing I've ever seen before." Carl said, looking at the man while eyeing the battle

***

The battle took two hours but the winner was Asta Newman and she won the thousand points after killing her opponents and their reanimated corpses, thus getting out of debt with a hundred and forty points to spare —according from what Carl heard from the others.

Since it was about 1:30 PM when Arena ended, Carl checked up on his baby sister and signed up for a collection from the Hilltop —one of two communities the Sanctuary collected from (the other was called the Kingdom)— that would be later that day, when Negan walked passed him.

"Howdy, sheriff." Negan greeted, nodding towards Carl's hat, then glancing at the sign-up sheet which only could fit five names, which were all filled, "I guess I'll tag along, just to remind Gregory who he's dealing with."

Within a few minutes, the five Saviors and Simon plus Negan loaded into a Military Truck and drove to a community surrounded by large wooden logs with a mansion barely peaking over the walls.

When the people on lookout saw them, the gate quickly opened and the driver pulled up into the colony.

Within a few minutes, the Hilltopians began to load fresh produce they had grown into the truck and the Saviors supervised.

"Carl, Simon, let's go." Negan said, drawing both makes to him as they went inside the manor

Once inside the lavish manor, Negan led Simon and Carl into a nearby office where a older man was drinking some whiskey while a long haired man sat next to him.

The older man stood up, "Hello, Simon." then noticed Negan and the ever present Lucille thus significantly paling, "Uh, Negan, hello."

Negan didn't reply and Gregory was quick to pour Simon and Negan some drinks and he gave Carl a water bottle.

"Gregory," Negan said, breaking the silence, "I noticed last month's produce delivery was a little low, I hope you're not trying to hide things from me." Negan tapped Lucille against the floor slightly, "I would hate to have to remind you that that's against the rules."

The brown, long-haired was quick to reply, "We've given you half of everything, bugs got to the food before we could rescue it. We gave you half of all we saved."

"Jesus, shut it." Gregory whispered to him, but everyone still heard him

"We can show you our stores, sir, what we have saved we have given you the best." Gregory said

"Then show us." Negan said, "Have Jesus take Carl to the storage."

"Jesus, you heard him." Gregory said and Carl followed Jesus there

Unlocking the supply, Jesus showed Carl what little they had, Carl muttered, "Damn." at the sight of so little

Then they returned to the manor, and Carl reported to Negan, "Negan, their words are true."

"Okay, then." Negan said, grabbing Gregory's liquor bottle, "Do make sure that doesn't happen again."

"Of course, sir." Gregory said

And the collection finished smoothly and the Saviors returned to the Sanctuary...


	5. The Day Off

Narrator's POV

Six months later, Carl Grimes woke up like he did every morning since arriving at the Sanctuary and immediately began caring for his baby sister, making and feeding her a bottle of formula.

He changed her diaper and walked up one of the Sanctuary's staircases to Negan's Wives' Room and sought out the only one that was awake, Rosie.

Rosie smiled as soon as she saw them, "Hey, guys."

"Hey Rosie." Carl greeted, beginning to hand Judith over to the woman but the blonde infant began to cry and cling to her brother

"No!" Judith mumbled, "Tay!"

"Looks like she doesn't want you to go." Rosie said

"I have to get to the sign up board." Carl said, "I can't stop getting points. I can't get into debt, I can't risk going into the Arena."

"Carl, you have hundreds of points, one day off with your sister won't make them go away." Rosie reminded, "I've been worried about you, worried that you'd work yourself to death."

Looking at his baby sister, Carl agreed with her, "I'll take the day off."

Carl then said his goodbyes to Rosie and returned to his room and put Judith into the stroller that he had found on a run to some subdivision a few months ago and carefully made his way down the stairs to the cafeteria.

He ate his breakfast quickly and made his way outside with his sibling.

Several guards greeted him as he walked around by the fence, pushing Judy's stroller.

Carl pushed Judith in her stroller around the base several times, walking at first but his pace slowly increasing each lap until he was running.

After running a couple of laps, Carl nearly crashed the stroller into Negan —who had come outside to check up on the guards.

But luckily, he didn't crash into him, and stopped barely a half a inch away from the man.

"Hi, Negan." Carl greeted

"Howdy, Sheriff." Negan said, greeting Carl with the nickname he had used since very early on

***

A few minutes later, Carl, Negan, and Judith were back in the Grimes' room, Carl and Negan sitting on the small couch next to each other while Judy played with a couple of toys she had received from various Saviors —it seemed having a baby around during the end of the world was a welcome thing, for morale at least.

"Do you ever think about your family, Carl?" Negan asked, surprising the nearly seventeen-year-old

Carl looked at Judith, who was playing happily with her toys on the floor, "I don't really think about them as much. I miss my dad, Daryl, Glenn, Maggie, Beth and the others but I try not to think about them. They might all be dead. And I miss those that have died, like my mom and Hershel. Why do you ask?"

"Just wonderin'." Negan said

"Did you loose someone?" Carl asked

"Yes." Negan answered, not going into detail and Carl could respected that and decided not ask anymore

Even though he and Negan had become pretty good friends —saving each other's lives did that sort of thing—, they just seemed to tip-toe around certain topics.

Carl noticed his sister becoming sleepy, so he scooped Judith up into his lap and hugged her.

The he stood up and placed her into her crib, letting her nap so he could continue talking with Negan.

They continued talking for hours, not even realizing they had both missed lunch.

Carl told Negan about the loss of the prison where he had Judy had been separated from everyone they had known.

Amazed by Carl's strength, Negan didn't even realize that he was leaving in towards the boy nor did he realized that Carl was leaving upwards.

Their lips barely connected, barely touched before they both frantically pulled away, blushes covering both of their faces.

"I gotta go." Negan said, standing up and walking out

***

That night both males' thoughts were consumed by their barely kiss: Carl looked up and the ceiling of his room, the moment playing again and again in his mind; Negan tried fucking a couple of his wives to forget the feeling but it didn't work either.

"Could this possibly be love?" Carl thought

"I haven't felt this way since Lucille." Negan thought...


	6. Making it Work

Narrator's POV

It's been around a month since the kiss and Negan and Carl had been avoiding each other ever since.

Rosie, quickly noticed that the two males were ignoring each other and so she began to plot.

The next morning, Carl woke up and tended to his baby sister and began to walk out for breakfast when he noticed a piece of paper on the floor in front of his door.

Setting Judy on the floor, Carl picked ip the note and read it.

“Come see me in my room as soon as possible. ~Rosie.”

Picking his sister back up, he slid the note into his pocket and walked to Negan's Wives' Room.

Knocking on the door, Carl was immediately let in by Rosie, who pulled him in and sat him down on the couch.

Carl wrapped his arms around his sister —who was sitting on his lap— and looked to the woman, "What did you want, Rosie?"

"Why have you and Negan been avoiding each other?" Rosie asked, sitting in front of him

Carl didn't immediately reply, trying to find a mature way of saying "None of your beeswax."

Rosie sighed at his silence, "You two were such good friends, what happened?"

Carl sighed, he'd had to admit defeat, Rosie had turned into his confidant since he had been here...and it also helped that she was close to Negan.

"We kissed." Carl relented, holding his hands up in surrender

"That's wonderful, Carl." Rosie said, "I knew you two cared about each other."

"It was quick and over before it really began. It was an accident, he just kissed me in the heat of the moment." Carl said, playing down the event

Rosie smirked, "I doubt that. If it was like that Negan wouldn't be avoiding you too, it's out of character for him. If he didn't care, of it was heat-of-the-moment kinda thing he'd still be tryin' to talk to you. But you both of avoiding each other, so obviously, you're both embarrassed and thinking the other didn't want it."

"But do you love him?" Rosie asked, blocking the door as Carl tried the walk out, both people ignoring the sound of Judith giggling, "Answer and I'll let you out, no matter what answer you give."

"Yes, I do. But it doesn't matter anyways." Carl said, standing in front of her, "It wouldn't have worked out between us anyways, why would he want me when he had a bunch of hot wives like you."

"Well, we haven't even tried." A masculine voice said behind him

Carl spun around and saw Negan leaning against the wall with Judy in his arms.

"Negan?" Carl asked, his face turning pink with a blush of embarrassment

"The one and only." Negan chuckled, "Rosie called me in here a little while before you, I heard everythin' —she interrogated me too." Negan pulled a note like his out of his jacket pocket, "I don't know about you, but I'm willin' yo give this a shot and make it work."

Carl smiled, "I want to, too."

***

And they did, their relationship began and two months passed by and they were sitting side by side watching Arena.

This fight held: Fat Joey, Drake, and two more guys and one gal.

As always, the fighting began and the five people began fighting.

Drake looked like he was going to win and the way he savagely took down the girl and one of the guys proved it while Fat Joey only killed the other guy.

The two surviving Saviors then killed the reanimated corpses and then Drake and Fat Joey began to fight each other, the two well known Saviors getting cheered on by the crowd —some cheering for Fat Joey, some for Drake, and some just for violence.

Suddenly, when Drake's victory over Fat Joey seemed inevitable, Fat Joey pulled out a gun.

Fat Joey then pointed the gun at Drake and since Drake dodged, the bullet ricocheted off the wall behind him and went into the crowd...straight into Carl's right eye.

People started shrieking as Carl collapsed, Negan picked the dying teen up bridal style and handed him to Arat, "GET 'IM TO DR. CARSON!"

"Yes, sir." Arat said, taking Carl and ran to the infirmary and laid him on the cot

"There's a bullet in his eye, Doctor." Arat said to the doctor

Dr. Carson immediately got to work, trying his best to save Carl.

Back at the Arena, Negan slammed open the door of the cage holding the fighting men with Lucille in his other hand.

Without saying a word, Negan three Fat Joey to the floor and bashed his head in with Lucille.

As he hit Joey, Negan said loud enough for everyone in the crowd to hear, "FIRST YOU BREAK GODDAMN ARENA RULES BY BRINGIN' A MOTHERFUCKING GUN, THEN YOU SHOOT MY CARL!"

Once Fat Joey's head was nothing more than a bloody mush, Negan looked at the crowd, "Arena is over for today. Nobody fucking wins!"

Then, once Saviors left to do their responsibilities, Negan ran to the infirmary to check up on Carl.

***

A few days later, when Carl was out of the infirmary and back in his room, Negan walked into his Wives' Room, instantly catching their attention, "Ladies, I got news for you."

"What is it?" Amber asked, standing up in shock, scared at what she was about to hear

"Is Carl alive?" Rosie asked, while rocking Judith in her arms, worried that Carl had passed

"No, no, Carl is fine, he's lost his eye but he's still among the living. You'll still need to watch Judy for a little while, though. But this reason I'm here is to tell y'all: I'm divorcing all of y'all." Negan answered, making all ten women gasp, "None of you did anything to cause this, but I'm ready to move on from y'all. And I'm giving each of you a thousand points for our divorce settlement."

"What changed you mind about us?" Sherry asked, wondering what had happened while hiding her happiness that she could now remarry Dwight

Negan smirked as he turned towards the door and began to walk out, but right before he closed the door he answered, "I'm marryin' Carl."

Rosie smirked as the door shut behind him...


	7. Lucille

Narrator's POV 

A few weeks later, Carl sat on the couch in Negan's living room talking with his boyfriend while Judy was asleep in her room —since she and her big brother had moved in with Negan a few weeks previously and Rosie moved into Carl's old room.

Getting off the couch, Carl began to walk into the bathroom to change his bandage when Negan stopped him.

"Carl, you don't need to be ashamed of your 'battle scar', 'cause you look rad as hell." Negan praised, making Carl blush

Carl sat back down on the couch next to Negan, "Is there anything you wanna to talk about?"

"Yeah," Negan said, putting an arm around Carl's shoulders, "Long time ago, you asked me if I lost someone and I told you that I did but I didn't tell you who. Her name was Lucille and she was my wife. And she was sick with cancer..."

***

*Flashback ~ Two Days Before the Start of the Apocalypse*

Negan pulled his car up to the front door of the hospital as a about 5'9 feet tall woman walked out of the doors, and got into his car.

"How'd the treatment go? Is your wig itchin' ya?" Negan asked

"It went as well as it could. No, it's fine." Lucille replied, clicking on her seatbelt

"Ya want Roy Rogers for dinner?" Negan asked

"Yeah, that's fine." Lucille replied, "Did you hear about that sickness moving around?"

"Yeah, some of the boys were talkin' about it durin' class and then again during' practice." Negan replied, "Think it's just a new strand of the flu or something."

"Maybe." Lucille agreed as he pulled into the restaurant's drive thru

***

*Flashback ~ Two Months Later ~ 46 Days Into the Apocalypse*

Negan, Lucille, and about a dozen others were holed up in a hospital desperately trying to keep the undead out.

The husband and wife pair knew they couldn't stay there much longer since supplies were dwindling fast.

And Lucille's condition was worsening everyday without treatment...she wasn't going to last much longer.

Waking up, Negan walked into the small hospital room's bathroom and dipped a rag into the bucket of rainwater he collected, wiping his face and limbs for a 'shower'.

Walking out of the bathroom, Negan was almost immediately met with Lucille trying to eat his flesh, but he pushed her away and ran for his baseball bat and hit her with it, tears running down his face all the while.

But she just kept on getting up and attacking him, when suddenly, the room's door opened and the sound of metal hitting tile filled the room.

Both the walker and the man looked towards the sound and saw a woman standing by the door who had dropped a tray of food to pull out a small gun and shot Lucille's reanimated corpse in the head, Lucille's body collapsing on top of him.

A few days later, the survivors lost the hospital and Negan was the only survivor to not die leaving the city and eventually find a military outpost, and since the gates were closed he cleared it out in a couple days.

He called the military outpost 'the Sanctuary' and found a small bundle of barbed wire and wrapped it around the top of his bat, christening it Lucille.

Eventually other found the Sanctuary and the Saviors were founded.

***

*Back in the Present*

"...I was a mess after Lucille died, I wasn't even strong enough to put her down." Negan finished, wiping a tear from his eye, "You've told me all about your past, so it's only fair that you knew all of mine."

"Her death took you by surprise, my dad wouldn't have had the strength to kill my mom, and you didn't have it in you to put Lucille down." Carl said, with no judgement in his voice

"Jesus, sheriff, what the hell did I do to deserve ya?" Negan asked, hugging him, releasing all the tears and grief he had kept bottled up, "Hadda be something in a past life or something."

Carl pressed a kiss to the top of his head, "I love you, Neeg."

"I love you, too." Negan replied, taking a deep breath, "Will ya do me the honor of marryin' me?"

"Yes." Carl replied, "Yes, I will."

***

A week later, Carl looked in the mirror of Negan's bedroom, only Rosie in their with him with Judith sitting on the chair,while Negan and the preacher Father Michael —a priest that gave sermon on Sundays after Arena to those who held on to religion during the end of the world— waited in the living room.

Rosie carefully tied the lace wedding dress sash around his empty eye-socket and draped a veil over his head.

Rosie then tightened the ribbon around Carl's waist, "You look beautiful, Carl. Negan's gonna drop dead."

"I hope he doesn't, I don't want ta be a widow before I'm even married." Carl joked, looking into the mirror and doing a spin to look at his full reflection 

Carl felt very elegant, looking in the mirror, ignoring the fact he was barefoot; he had found the dress, veil and sash in a small wedding boutique during a supply run to a nearby small town, the rest of the clothes in his size had been eaten by moths.

Yes, he did find several suits, but this dress just spoke to him —maybe because it was a big 'fuck you' to all the death and the end of the world since something new was being announced.

Going out of the room, Rosie holding Judy as she followed behind, Carl walked up to Negan —whose jaw dropped at the sight of Carl— and stood in front of him.

To make it quick, the preist asked, "Carl, do you take Negan to be your husband, to love and to care for in sickness and in health as long as you both shall live?"

"I do." Carl said, smiling

"Negan, do you take Carl to be your husband, to love and to care for in sickness and in health as long as you both shall live?" Father Michael asked

"I damn sure do." Negan smirked

Father Michael asked, "Do you have the rings?"

"Yes." Negan replied, pulling them out of his pocket

The Negan slid the more feminine ring —that once belonged to Lucille— on Carl's ring finger and Carl repeated the process to Negan with the other ring —which the man hadn't wore in years.

"Then by the power of love, I pronounce you husbands." Father Michael pronounced, "You may now kiss the bridegroom."

Negan dipped Carl into a kiss and Rosie left with Judy and Father Michael so Negan and Carl could consummate their marriage...


	8. Two Familiar Faces

Narrator's POV

A month before Negan and Carl got married, on the other side of Virginia, Beth Greene and Daryl Dixon —who also got separated from the group at the prison and had not found Terminus— were scavenging for food in a church.

Opening the cupboards and drawers, the two people looked around the kitchen for food.

Suddenly, Beth opened a set of cabinets and if revealed a bunch of foodstuffs.

"Sweet lord." Beth muttered

"I think we're good on food." Daryl said, and they were for around a month and then they decided to gather more supplies on a nearby grocery store

***

Back at the Sanctuary, Carl woke up in bed and pressed a kiss to his husband's lips and got up, showered, and dressed for the day.

Sitting back on the bed to lace his boots, Carl was pulled back onto the bed by a pair of strong arms.

"Were on our honeymoon, we don't need ta get up so early." Negan whispered into Carl's ear, yawning

"Honeymoon or not, we still have work to do." Carl said, leaving their room and going to visit Rosie who had been watching Judith all night

"How do you feel?" Rosie asked with a smug smile as Carl walked in

"Sore, really sore." Carl replied, "But the soreness is nothing compared to the beard-burn between my thighs."

Rosie laughed at that, slapping her leg, "It's going to be like that every time, that beard-burn kills. I gotta lotion that should help."

"No, I'll live." Carl laughed, "Gotta go on a run to the grocery store anyways."

"Okay, bring me back some pads or tampons and some chocolate." Rosie said, rocking Judith, "I'm out."

"I'll keep an eye out for it." Carl promised, pressing a kiss to Judith's head

Then Carl left the room, going to the courtyard and getting into a truck with Drake and Arat —Arat drove while Drake and Carl told directions on the map— while seventeen Saviors followed behind on motorcycles and two military trucks followed to haul the stuff they found.

***

The group of twenty-four Saviors drove for about three hours until they arrived at the grocery store, the letters of the sign on the building fallen off so reading a name was impossible.

Twenty of the Saviors got out of their vehicles —those in the military trucks would stay outside to watch the vehicles— and they went inside.

Standing in front of the checkouts, Carl assigned jobs to everyone.

"Me and Arat will handle medicine. Drake and Skinny Joey will handle clothes. Maria and James will handle canned goods. Sam and Ruby will handle pasta and sauces. Dean and Lisa will handle beverages. Alex and John will handle paper goods. Chris and Tom will handle non-food. Ben and Martin will handle cereals. Lily and Alan will handle alcohol. And David and Billie will handle rice and beans." Carl assigned, "Everyone take two carts each and stay with your partner no matter what. Kill any walkers you see and try not to make too much noise. And be careful walking around, the ceiling looks like it's about to collapse."

As soon as Carl was done handing out orders, the Saviors did as assigned and gathered their carts and got the supplies.

Carl and Arat walked to the Pharmacy, taking down several walkers along the way, and Carl slid over the counter and handed whatever he could find to Arat who put it into the carts.

Once the back shelves were cleared, the pair then began clearing the shelves of whatever wasn't behind the counter, getting band-aids, tampons, and medicines.

Once Arat and Carl had three and a half of their four carts filled, they went over to the baby section and stocked up on baby formula, baby snacks, baby clothes and such for the growing Judith.

Once they finished that, they rolled out of the store and began putting their stuff into the military trucks —baby stuff went into the back of the black truck— and they got into the car and waited for everyone else to finish up.

As they waited, Carl saw a motorcycle holding two people drive up to the store and Carl, Arat and the four other Saviors got out of their vehicles and approached the newcomers.

When the strangers got close enough to see their faces, Carl gasped then looked to the Saviors —who had their guns posted and ready to shoot, shouting, "Don't shoot!"

"Carl?" Beth asked, getting off the bike

"It can't be." Daryl muttered

"Daryl? Beth?" Carl asked

"Where's your dad and the others?" Beth asked

"And who're they?" Daryl asked

"I haven't seen anyone since we abandoned the prison." Carl answered, "These are the Saviors, we have this camp, you should come back with us."...


	9. Sanctuary

Narrator's POV

As the Saviors and Daryl and Beth drive back to the Sanctuary with their supplies in tow, Carl updated his refound friends on what had happened with him since their old group split up.

"So this Negan...ya married 'im?" Daryl asked Carl

"Yeah." Carl replied, a slight blush on his face, "Last night actually."

"Congrats." Beth said, a blush in her face at the meaning, "But, I gotta ask...what happened to your eye?"

"I got shot, Dr. Carson stopped me from passin' and turnin'." Carl answered

"Is Lil' Ass Kicker still up and runnin'?" Daryl asked, hoping Judith was alive

"Yeah, Judy's alive." Carl answered, "She's back at the Sanctuary."

Daryl and Beth smiled, Judith was loved by all of the old group...as separated as they were.

"I'm still amazed y'all found us, I thought I'd never see any of y'all again." Carl said, "When we get back, I'll introduce you to Negan and help y'all get set up."

"Set up?" Beth said

"Y'all are gonna stay at the Sanctuary, right?" Carl asked, "Its safe: a roof to sleep under, a couple of generators and all ya gotta do is pull your weight."

"Of course we're stayin'." Beth said, "But what do you mean 'set up'?"

"Ya know, get y'all a room, some dinner, and some jobs." Carl clarified, "We use the point system at the Sanctuary: kill some walkers with proof, ya get points; go on runs, ya get points; do jobs, ya get points; and stuff like that. They're needin' someone in the kitchen and someone on guard duty."

"What about you and Daryl?" Carl asked, wiggling an eyebrow

Beth blushed, "I-I d-don't....we d-didn't."

Carl chuckled, "If there's anything my time at the Sanctuary has taught me, is that if ya got feelings for someone, just tell 'em."

Bath blushed more, trying to desperately scoot away from Daryl.

***

In a couple of hours, the group of vehicles pulled into the gates of the Sanctuary, Daryl and Beth's mouths dropped in shock to the size of the former military base.

Once the gate closed behind them, guards hitting the few walkers that followed them inside, and other Saviors began to help unload as Carl pulled his friends away and up to his and Negan's bedroom.

He quickly found his husband and sister in the tiny kitchen their private quarters held, Judith on her high-chair eating grapes and Negan sitting at the nearby table cleaning the blood-covered Lucille.

"Hey, babe." Negan greeted, "Who are they?"

"This is Daryl and Beth, the ones I told ya about." Carl answered, realization crossing Negan's face

"Howdy," Negan greeted, standing up and shaking hands with Daryl and Beth, "I'm Negan."

"So, Imma get them set up and go deliver some supplies to the outpost." Carl said, hugging Judith and passing her to his reunited friends

"Be careful out there," Negan warned, "Simon just told me they found Little Timmy and the Dick Brigade."

"Finally, what happened?" Carl asked

"Someone took 'em out with a fucking flame thrower." Negan answered, "So be careful."

***

After setting Beth up in the kitchen and Daryl on the wall guard, Carl joined a half-dozen other Saviors as they loaded into a military truck with supplies and drove an hour away to the Satellite Outpost.

Seeing one of their vehicles outside, the Saviors left two guys behind with the supplies and Carl and the other four went inside, al sit immediately attacked by the walkers of the dead Saviors.

After killing the reanimated corpses, Carl pulled out his walkie-talkie, "Neeg, someone killed everyone. I repeat: Neeg, someone killed everyone."

Almost instantly, he got a reply, "Damn, any signs of who killed 'em?"

"No, but all of the guns and supplies are gone. I repeat: no, but all of the guns and supplies are gone."

"Well fuck. Just come back and we gotta find the assholes who did this." Negan's voice said after a moment

Turning off and putting up his walkie, Carl ordered, "We're movin' out y'all. Burn the bodies and we're out."

And the Saviors did so, burning the bodies of their former comrades and returned to the Sanctuary.

***

A few weeks later, the people who commutes the attack we're found and Carl found himself inside an RV with Negan —who was about to lay down the law of his land...


	10. Late Night Conversations

Narrator's POV

Carl finished telling his former group what had happened to him and Judy since they saw each other, leaving out certain things like the real Lucille and the the breakdown Negan had when telling the story as well as the details of the wedding and the following night.

Nearly everyone was paled from the story, and Maggie's condition seemed to worsen, but they were approaching the Hilltop, so they tried to compose themselves.

When the RV arrived inside the Hilltop, Carl was the first person out and went straight into the mansion, where he found Gregory and Jesus.

"Uhhh, sir, we don't have anything ready, we weren't expecting pickup for another week." Gregory stuttered

"I'm not here for pickup yet, get Doctor Carson here asap." Carl ordered

"Right away, sir." Gregory said as Rick walked in with Michonne, Glenn who was carrying Maggie

Jesus rushed to get the doctor, who was quick to start to tend to Maggie.

As Maggie and Glenn went into the other room so the doctor could help, Carl stood in front of Gregory, putting on his tough persona, "Don't forget, Gregory, I'm your Negan today."

Gregory nodded weakly, sighing in relief as Carl walked away to check up on how the soon-to-be-picked-up supplies were coming along.

Rick, wanting the full story of what had happened in the years since he ha class seen his son, walked up to Gregory, "How much do ya know 'bout 'im?"

The older man shrugged, "He's Negan's Wife and he has a reputation as being more merciless than the man himself."

Rick gulped, "What had Carl become to keep himself alive? Was losing his humanity worth it?"

What was he thinking, Carl was his son,...but still.

***

Once Maggie was checked over by the doctor and given the medication required to help but since it was so late and thus dangerous to head back t Alexandria, they were spending the night on Hilltop.

Rick and Carl were sharing a room and Ruck claimed he needed to use the restroom when Carl pulled out his wallow-talkie.

Rick stood behind the door, his ear pressed against it as he heard Carl talk.

***

Carl greeted his husband when Negan spoke to him, "Judy misses you, she's asked for you three times."

Carl replied, a smile in his voice, "Is she the only one that misses me?"

"I miss you too, Sheriff, and Rosie and Beth asked about you. Daryl and the boys already left for the Kingdom when we got back." Negan answered

Carl hummed, They should get back soon. Hand Judy the walkie."

After a moments pause, Carl greeted, "Hey, Judy."

"Cal!" The childish voice of Judith greeted

Carl chuckled, "How's my favorite girl in the whole world?"

"Goo! Wosie play wid me all day! We eden watch moovi!"

"Sounds like that two of y'all had a lot of fun."

"Yeah! Den Neggie came home and he made spaghetti!"

One of Carl's eyebrows rose, "Did he make Spaghetti-O's or did he make real spaghetti?"

"He made Spaghetti-O's dat were shaped like letters! All for me! He and Wosie ate in de cafetwea."

Carl glanced at his solar-powered watch, "It's getting late, kiddo, you should hand Neeg the walkie and get ready for bed."

"Otay! Bye-bye, Cal. I wuv you!" Judith said, handing the walkie to Negan

"Oh Neeg, by the way can you tell Beth and Daryl that Maggie and Glenn are alive and expecting." Carl said

"Damn, oh fuck I meant darn. Fricking hell this not cursin' in fronta 'er is hard." Negan groaned

"You're getting better at it." Carl laughed

"I sure fricking hope so." Negan sighed, "Well you should get to sleep."

"Only if you do the same." Carl sternly replied

"Ok, Sheriff, you're the boss." Negan said, "'Night."

"'Night." Carl said, turning off his wallow-talkie

Rick waited a few moments before going back into the room, "'ey, Coral."

"Hi, dad." Carl said, sitting up

"Do ya wanna talk about that reputation of yours?" Rick said, wanting to make sure his Carl was still there

Carl shrugged, "Did what I needed to do to survive, to make sure Judy survives."

Carl didn't say anything else and went to sleep.

The next morning, the group went back to the rv and went back to Alexandria...


	11. The First Collection

Narrator's POV

Two days after the group got back to Alexandria, Carl was walking around the compound, memorizing the layout, and adding to his physical drawing that he hid in his room at Rick's house.

This compound wasn't a compound in the new sense: it was a neighborhood, one with electricity and running water.

That was such a rarity nowadays, the Sanctuary had it as well but still, most people who were alive were riffing it out in the wild and these people hadn't truly experienced the horrors of the walking dead and hadn't lost the sense of their old lives.

It was kinda pathetic in Carl's mind, because if or when this place falls, these people will be sorely unprepared.

As he walked past the gate, he heard the metal get hit and some whistling, then a familiar voice said, "Little pig, little pig, let me in!"

Spencer Monroe, who was apparently the only surviving member of the family that started this place lifted the tarp that covered the gate, "Who are you?"

"Oh you better be joking! Negan, Lucille, I know we had to 'ave made a pretty strong first impression." Negan said, leaning back slightly

Rick was running down the street towards them, "You said we had a week. You're early."

Carl walked up as well, Negan chuckled looking at Carl, "Yeah, but I missed you."

Suddenly, the unmistakable sound of a walker was heard behind them and Negan chuckled as he smashed its head with Lucille.

The gate was opened and Negan came inside with the Saviors, the leader putting an arm around Carl's waist, "So, whatcha say, Sheriff, anything worthwhile?"'

Carl chuckled and said, "A shit ton of guns."

Negan looked back to Rick, "I want all of your guns, or should I say my guns? There's all the guns you took from my outposts and all of the guns you managed to scrap up. And then half of everything else you have, but we aren't touchin' a lick of your food."

The Saviors went off and into houses, taking whatever they liked.

After a while, Arat returned and said that according to the inventory, they were two guns short.

Rick cursed and took Carol and Glenn to find them.

While Rick was gone, Negan and Carl went back to Rick's house with Olivia following.

They put her to work making lemonade while they went out to the porch, Arat guarding.

"No." Arat said, blocking the man from getting to the balcony Negan and Carl were sitting at, sipping lemonade

"I just want to talk to them." The last living Monroe said to the Middle Eastern woman, trying to get past her

"I said no." Arat repeated

"Don't be an asshole, Arat, let the man pass." Negan said, and Arat did as told

Smiling, the Alexandrian held out his hand towards Negan, "We haven't officially met, but I'm Spencer Monroe. Hi."

"Howdy." Negan replied, tipping Carl's hat that the eighteen year old was wearing

"I brought you both a gift." Spencer said, reaching into his bag and pulling out three glasses and a bottle of whiskey.

Carl and Negan took a glass each and Spencer poured the alcohol into the glasses.

Negan took a swig before chuckling, "Oh, that is good. You know, the only thing missing is a pool table. Nothing better than a good game of 8 ball."

"The house across the street has one in the garage." Spencer informed, pointing to the house across the street from Rick's

"Oh, Spencer, you may just be my new best friend. Such a nice day, too nice to be cooped up inside some garage, don't you think? Yeah. Oh, I got a better idea." Negan said, "How 'bout you and Arat go haul that thing into the street and we can get started?"

Within a few minutes, the pool table was in the middle of the street and Spencer was setting up the game.

Once Spencer was done with the preparations, Negan quickly kissed Carl's lips, picked up his drink and Lucille, and walked to the pool table.

"I could never do this with Rick. He would just be standing there, scowling, giving me that annoying side-eye he gives me." Negan said, taking his turn

Spencer watched as the balls rolled, "That's actually what I came to see you about. I want to talk to you about Rick."

Negan hit a few balls into their holes, "All right. Talk to me, Spencer. Talk to me about Rick."

"I get what you're trying to do here, what you're trying to build. I'm not saying I agree with your methods, but I get it. You're building a network. You're making people contribute for the greater good. It makes sense. But you should know that Rick Grimes has a history of not working well with others." Spencer warned

"Is that so?" Negan asked, taking a swig of his drink

"Rick wasn't the original leader here: my mom was. She was doing a really good job of it. Then she died, not long after Rick showed up. Same with my brother, same with my dad." Spencer informed, taking his own turn

"So, everything was peachy here for, what, years? And then Rick shows up, and suddenly, you're an orphan? Good thing for you he's not in charge anymore." Negan chuckled, taking another drink

Spencer shook his head," Doesn't matter. His ego's out of control. He'll find a way to screw things up, to try and do things his way, to take over. That's what he did with my mom. That's what he'll do again."

"What exactly are you proposing be done about that?" Negan asked, looking at the Monroe

"I am my mother's son. I can be the leader she was. That's what this place needs. That's what you need." Spencer said, proudness displayed on his features

"So I should put you in charge, that's what you're saying?" Negan asked

"We'd be much better off." Spencer said

"You know, I'm thinking, Spencer. I'm thinking how Rick threatened to kill me, how he clearly hates my guts. But he is out there right now, gathering shit for me to make sure I don't hurt any of the fine people that live here. He is swallowing his hate and getting shit done. That takes guts." Negan chuckled, "And then there's you The guy who waited for Rick to be gone so he could sneak over and talk to me to get me to do his dirty work, so he could take Rick's place. So I got to ask, if you wanna take over, why not just kill Rick yourself and just take over?"

"What? No, no. I didn't- I don't-" Spencer muttered, eyes wide

"You know what I'm thinking? 'Cause I have a guess." Negan said, getting into Spencer's space, "It's because you got no guts."

Suddenly, Negan's sword-like blade appeared from nowhere and ripped opened Spencer's torso, making Spencer catch his own innards.

"How embarrassing. There they are. They were inside you the whole time.  
You did have guts. I've never been so wrong in my whole life!" Negan laughed as Spencer died, "Now, someone oughta get up here and clean this mess up. Oh.  
Anyone want to finish the game? C'mon. Anybody? Anybody? C'mon. I was winning! "

Rosita pulled a gun out from her jacket and didn't hesitate to shoot at Negan, but luckily the bullet hit Lucille instead of the intended target.

"Shit! What the shit?! Shit! You just- You tried to kill me?! You shot Lucille!" Negan shouted, more angered at the fact Lucille had been harmed than that she had attempted to kill him

"She got in the way." Rosita shrugged

"What is this? What is this? This little bad boy made from scratch? Look at those crimps. This was homemade. You may be stupid, girl, but you showed some real ingenuity here. Arat, move that knife up out on that girl's face. Lucille's beautiful, smooth surface is never gonna look the same, so why should yours?! Unless, unless you tell me who made this." Negan breathed as Arat pushed the Latina to the ground

"It was me. I made it." Rosita replied, trying to free herself

"You see, now I just think you're lying. And you lying to me now?! Such a shame. Arat's gonna have to cut up that pretty face. One more try." Negan said

"It was me." Rosita repeated

"Oh! You are such a badass! Fine. Have it your way." Negan said, turning to the balcony Carl was standing on, "Carl, darlin', kill somebody."

Carl turned and shot Olivia, who had come out of Rick's house when she heard Spencer's scream.

"No. It was me! No!" Rosita shouted, panicked

"NO! We had an agreement." Rick shouted, running down the street

"Rick! Look, everybody, it's Rick. Ah, your people are making me lose my voice doin' all this yelling." Negan said, his voice thinning as he spoke, "Rick, how about a 'thank you?' I mean, look, I know we started this relationship with me beating the holy shit out of your friend and finding out we're in-laws, and because of that, we're never gonna sit around and braid each other's hair or share our deepest, darkest secrets, but how about a little credit? I just bent over backwards to show you how reasonable I am. One of your people wanted me to kill you and put him in charge. I took him out for you. And another one, here she shot Lucille, trying to kill me just now, so I gave you one less mouth to feed. And by looking at her, I can see that mouth did some major damage."

Carl laughed at Negan's words as the man continued, "Now, personally, I wouldn't have picked her to be the one to go, but Carl was the one that made that decision."

"Your shit's waiting for you at the gate. Just go." Rick said through grit teeth

"Sure thing, Rick right after I find the guy or gal that made this bullet." Negan said, Carl walked towards him while Negan looked at the Middle Eastern woman, "Arat?"

"It was me!" Tara yelled

Eugene stopped her, tears rolling down his face, "No, it wasn't. It was me. It was only me."

"You?" Carl laughed, amusement in his voice

Eugene started panting, "It required one spent casing, one four-holed turret reloader, powder, one funnel for the powder-"

"Shut up. I believe you." Negan interrupted, taking a deep breath, "Lucille, give me strength. I'm gonna be relieving you of your bullet maker, Rick. That and whatever you left for me at the front gate. And however much you scavenged, it's not good enough, because you're still in a serious, serious hole after today. Let's move out! "

"No! No, no! Please, just take me!" Rosita shouted, tears rolling down her face, "No!"

"Rick, I ain't gonna lie," Negan began, wrapping his left arm around Carl's waist while holding the harmed Lucille with his right, "your house is a goddamn mess. I'll see you next time."...


End file.
